I might be a tech addict but no matter how many gadgets I have to ensure I get through each day in one piece the lure of the paper is just to much for me.
You see, I love notebooks and I love diaries. I start each year with such great intentions but never quite manage to keep up with my alter-ego organised self. I'm ultimately just a bit rubbish when it comes to things like that.
So my new squeeze is a Filofax Swift Personal Organiser. It's compact, it fits into my obligatory Cybher™ issue satchel and it's blank pages fill me with excitement and promise of everything I need to know being in one place.
Whilst I love a Filofax, I'm not overly keen on their diary inserts. The five languages on each page make it too busy for me. I either need it to be clean and zen or funky and cool but as neither of those boxes were ticked I opted for a Dodo Pad Personal Size, Filofax compatible diary refiill instead.
Much more me, with plenty of room for all of the things I need to remember, not just in my schedule but for the rest of the family too.
I added some extra note paper, a selection of Filofax Assorted Sticky Notes and took out the address pages and A-Z dividers.
I'm not really sure why they still include them... It seems a bit needless when you have your contacts stored on your phone, but maybe that's just me?
If you have any creative ideas of how I could use them, I'm all ears.
So watch this space. Let's see if i make it to Christmas is a superly, organised way.
Disclosure : Filofax sent me the Swift Personal Organiser to review. The additional items were purchased by little old me.
It's been a bit of a week to say the least. A press junket trip to Disneyland Paris, an out of date passport, a film premiere, a 40th birthday and all in the space of three days. That's hardcore even by my standards.
So Disneyland… my very first visit, our very first visit. I traveled with my girls, Biba and Betty and my good friend Rosie and her daughter LJ. We were there as guests of Disney for the premiere of their new movie Wreck-It Ralph and to spend the weekend enjoying ourselves in the park.
We travelled by train, direct to Disneyland which was as stress free as travelling with three tween girls can be. We dropped our bags at the vast Disneyland Hotel and hit the ground running by heading straight to the park.
To say that the girls were excited would be an understatement but then to be fair, Rosie and I were pretty excited too. The Disney magic was in the air, bizarre as it sounds, you could actually feel it.
Due to the out of date passport induced trauma I'd suffered the day before, it soon became apparent that I hadn't researched the park in any way, shape or form, so with map in hand we strolled down main street before being totally wowed by the iconic Disney Castle.
The sheer scale of it is difficult to take in but it's truly amazing and magical. After just half an hour in the park I'd morphed into a Disney Princess and I just couldn't get enough of the vibe.
We were on a pretty tight schedule as the Wreck-It Ralf screening was that evening but we managed to squeeze in a couple of light rides.
A storm in a teacup! Rosie hates having her photo taken!!
A quick change back at the hotel and we were off to see the movie. Wreck-It Ralf doesn't come to UK screens until February 15th next year but it's set to become a absolute classic.
Set in the 'off duty' world of arcade game characters it cleverly mixes different animation genre's resulting in a film for the whole family to enjoy.
I loved it, we all loved it and after having the opportunity to grill the producer about the whole creative process I cannot wait to see it again with my new found behind the scenes knowledge.
A full review is coming soon but take a look at the trailer...
On Saturday we went over to Walt Disney Studios and enjoyed a few more tame rides, (Betty's not a thrill seeker so everything we went on had to be pre-approved by her).
Fast Track tickets are an absolute must if you want to skip the queue's and we totally took advantage of ours. They reduced our waiting times down from over an hour to around 25 mins and just 10 mins on a couple of rides.
Nightfall brought a fabulous dinner with friends and a fireworks display at the castle. It was magical. We all donned our illuminated Mickey ears as we watched the sky come alive.
Back at the hotel we managed to squeeze in a quick Google + birthday hangout with some of our blogger friends back home before I totally flaked out. The excitement of turning 40 was just too much for me!!
The Disney experience was truly magical. I was enchanted from the moment I stood in front of the park gates. I'm not sure how they do it but I'm now totally sold on the need to visit Disneyland at least once in your lifetime.
Finally....
Can I please apologise to the non bloggers in carriage 4 of the 3.40pm Eurostar back to London? Rosie Scribble, Super Amazing Mum, Slummy Single Mummy and our seven rather boisterous, sugar fuelled children were rather loud... especially when they started singing happy birthday to me... everytime we hit a tunnel. There are quite a few tunnels...
It would seem rude not to join in this weeks 80's theme over on The Gallery..
A fresh faced, fifteen year old me in 1987.
I have to say I was quite cool back then (even if i say so myself). I was crazy into The Smiths and had a wardrobe full of vintage 1950's dresses that I wore with chunky knit cardigans and a pair of waxed brown Dr Martens shoes. It was a good look!
Do check out the other perms going down in this weeks retro theme!
I really wanted to join in this weeks Gallery but the theme wasn't working for me. We have never been into Halloween and as I was on a plane home from Norway when the kids turned into their alter ego's last night, I totally missed my opportunity, so instead I bring you the stunning town of Alesund in Norway. The spiritual home of Stokke (who I have worked for since 2003). This was my first visit as my meetings are usually in Oslo, but what an amazingly beautiful place. I am in love.
